What problems should China enterprises pay attention to when they go global?

China enterprises' "going out" is actually a relatively vivid statement, and its content, broadly speaking, should include not only the overseas exports of goods and services of China enterprises, but also the overseas investments of China enterprises.

Overseas investment should include corporate bond investment, including bond purchase and loan issuance, as well as corporate equity investment. Equity investment should also include so-called foreign direct investment (FDI) with a shareholding of more than 65,438+00% and portfolio investment with a shareholding of less than 65,438+00%.

Today's seminar mainly discusses the relatively narrow overseas equity investment of China enterprises. This is a big topic, which includes the following points: 1. Why do China enterprises "go global"? Second, some observations on world economic trends; Third, some comments on the current economic situation in China; Fourthly, some thoughts on the "going out" of China enterprises.

First, why should enterprises "go global"?

Fundamentally speaking, China enterprises "go global". At the national level, this reason should be the same, similar or related to why China wants to join the WTO. Why did China join the WTO? WTO is an agreement between participating countries to eliminate or reduce tariff barriers, open domestic markets and participate in global economic integration. The background is that the development of world division of labor makes global economic integration an inevitable trend.

It has several meanings:

First of all, the production process that can be completely completed in an enterprise is now subdivided into several nodes, or so-called sub-processes, which can be produced in different countries and companies. Therefore, in the process of global economic integration, it is difficult to say which company, which country's products or a country's products. For example, there are 797 Boeing 787s, so it is hard to say that 787s are products of American Boeing Company, because 65% of its parts are produced by parts manufacturers all over the world, mainly Germany, Italy and Japan, and 35% are provided by Japanese manufacturers. So in the process of global economic integration, the whole production process has been subdivided.

Secondly, in the process of global economic integration, the competition between enterprises is no longer the competition between enterprises, but the competition between one industrial chain and another. In this environment, no matter how good the production of enterprises is, without the help of upstream and downstream enterprises, products may still be difficult to occupy a favorable competitive position in the market.

In this context, China's accession to the WTO is to participate in the whole process of global economic integration and integrate into the global industrial chain. Otherwise, you may lose an opportunity of rapid development for at least several decades.

Then, why should China enterprises "go global"?

Because joining the global economic integration will definitely have advantages and disadvantages. Broadly speaking, this kind of pressure and obligation is more at home. Of course, we are not saying that this so-called "please come in" has only disadvantages, because enterprises can obtain the necessary funds, technology and management experience. But in general, you need to open your market, and you need to give your market to foreign companies that "please come in". Opportunities and opportunities are more abroad, because others come into your backyard to share your lunch, and you also need to go into other people's backyard to compete for a lunch. Therefore, in this sense, China enterprises "going out" is the proper meaning of China's entry into WTO. Why did you join? You should not only open up the domestic market, but also enter the international market and share a piece of the action in the international market.

From the enterprise level, although China enterprises should "go out" from the national level, not every enterprise should "go out" from the enterprise level, not to say that this is another way out, whether it is suitable for the needs of enterprises themselves. It is very important for enterprises to "go global", that is, for a specific enterprise, whether the international market and the domestic market can produce some kind of "spread", which is not only the difference in interests, but also the difference in profits, profits and interests.

Generally speaking, this kind of communication is nothing more than the following aspects:

First, the domestic market is saturated, or the profit rate is too low, so it is necessary to develop new markets.

Second, there are some scarce land, labor or other natural resources abroad, so you must make use of overseas markets. For example, many enterprises, including domestic enterprises, have to go abroad to farm, because many land in China, on the one hand, has limited resources, on the other hand, many land is polluted. You can say how organic you are, but when people hear that you come from one place or another, consumers lack enough trust.

The third is the global allocation of strategic assets, mainly because you have to control key sales channels and some emerging technologies.

Finally, avoid risks, because you have to avoid trade barriers and exchange rate fluctuations. For example, in the United States, Toyota and Honda in Japan take turns to be the first and second best-selling cars every year, but these cars cannot be exported to the United States after being made in Japan, and they must be produced in the United States like California, so as to avoid trade barriers. So in this sense, China enterprises need to "go global", which is from the national level. For specific enterprises, it depends on whether specific enterprises and international and domestic markets can produce certain spreads.

Second, the world economy and international market conditions.

Perhaps this is why the organizer asked me to talk about some observations on the trend of the world economy.

The trend of world economy is a process of dynamic development and change. Specifically, it has several components: one is the long-term trend change driven by innovation; First, the cyclical changes in the market economy; Then there are seasonal changes in specific industries; The other is unpredictable random change. Finally, seasonal changes and unpredictable random changes in specific industries may have little to do with our topic. The cyclical changes of the market economy will have a certain correlation, because it involves when to bargain-hunting, not to take over at the peak, but this is not the most important. Because time is limited, I want to talk mainly about long-term changes driven by innovation.

There is a lot of discussion about the changes in the long-term trend of the current world economic trend, so I want to mainly talk about these points, which is my own observation.

First, "Cloud, Big, Things, Moving"

That is, cloud computing, big data, Internet of Things, mobile Internet and artificial intelligence are changing the operation mode of the entire manufacturing and service industries and the consumption pattern of consumers. This includes e-commerce and artificial intelligence, including electric vehicles, including many driverless cars now. Many people are saying that unmanned taxis in the future will change a lot of ecology to a great extent. Because many of us now use internet technology, and more are service industries, such as WeChat. This industrial chain is not very long. But if you connect these technologies with industries such as automobiles, it may form a long industrial chain, so the impact should never be underestimated.

Second, small and medium-sized enterprises challenge large enterprises as the leading force of innovation.

Because traditionally, when we talk about innovation, we always talk about the world's top 500 companies, because they have the most resources, the most funds and the most innovative ability. But the innovations we see now are more from small and medium-sized enterprises. Tesla is a very typical example. Electric vehicles, including some unmanned vehicles now, are not from the three major automobile manufacturers, but from small and medium-sized enterprises, and it does not need to conduct joint research with large enterprises. There is a very important reason, which is what is innovation? Back to the fundamental definition of innovation, what is innovation? Innovation is a negation of the existing product structure and market structure. The more significant the innovation is, the more fundamentally it negates the existing product structure and market structure. And large enterprises, especially those with dominant positions, are usually the biggest beneficiaries of the existing product structure and market structure. Therefore, major innovations will cause conflicts of interest. This, like Kodak, is a classic example, that is, he is a leading and dominant enterprise in film technology, but he can't adopt digital photography technology in time, which eventually leads to bankruptcy. There are many examples of this. Because of time, I won't expand it.

Third, it is becoming the norm to "fight big with small" and cross-border competition.

This is mainly due to the development of financial innovation. These angels, venture capitalists, private equity and funds, this innovative equity financing method, have laid the foundation for "taking small fights to make big" and cross-border competition to become the norm. So it's really hard to say who your competitors are now. You really can't just focus on people who are already in the industry. You don't know which different industry will suddenly have a very surprising competitor tomorrow. The relationship between time, I will briefly talk about these points on this issue.

So what is the significance of long-term change? I think the main points are as follows: First, it gives China enterprises a good opportunity to connect with overseas innovative small and medium-sized enterprises for equity and mass production. Because a large enterprise has the ability of mass production, if he has an invention, he is willing to commercialize it, and he can form mass production without anyone. But because many inventors are small and medium-sized enterprises now, he has no mass production ability, and he needs to find another manufacturer to mass produce for him. Another point is the opportunity of equity investment. If you cooperate with Fortune 500 companies, it is impossible for you to get the opportunity of equity in Fortune 500 companies, and no one will give it to you. But if we cooperate with small and medium-sized enterprises to provide financing, there may be some opportunities for equity investment.

Fourth, the trend of technological change.

Germany 4.0 has several characteristics: First, make full use of the Internet, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence; The second is personalized mass production; Third, the value chain can be extended; But to sum up, its general feature is to make this product have better quality, and consumers are willing to consume this product for a longer time. However, the re-industrialization in the United States has different characteristics, because this is an era of scientific and technological innovation, and the products are updated very quickly. Like Kodak, as I said just now, you can do your best in film technology, but suddenly you become a digital camera. You can do it to the extreme or well, but suddenly it's useless. Therefore, this is also one of the things that our enterprises in China should pay attention to when they "go global" and conform to the development trend of science and technology. Is it more important to "build well" or "build what" The American system may be more flexible. Because of the time, it will not be expanded here.

Third, the domestic economic situation

Judging from the existing structural problems, it is mainly the coexistence of insufficient effective demand and insufficient effective supply. The big picture is that ice and fire are two worlds. Emerging industries and traditional industries are in a completely different state, which is manifested in the macro level. As we said just now, the shortage of effective demand and effective supply exists at the same time. Microscopically, it shows that on the one hand, the products of enterprises cannot be sold, and the products needed by the market are in short supply. We have heard many stories, such as Japanese toilet seats, diapers, milk powder and so on. These are not very high-tech products, but they are all products that the market needs. An important reason for this situation is that the traditional low-price, low-quality, low-value competition model does not adapt to the fundamental changes in market demand brought about by the rise of the middle class. Because an important feature of middle-class consumption is that he no longer cares so much about money. He is more willing to pay more for the quality, characteristics and performance of his products. But at this point, China's traditional enterprise competition mode is still low price, low quality and low value, which is an important reason.

Therefore, to solve China's economic problems, the country's macroeconomic policy is only a necessary condition, not a sufficient condition. Just like monetary policy, you can't do it if you are wrong; But being right doesn't necessarily work. Because money has enough liquidity, but the enterprise, or he doesn't borrow money, or what will he do after he takes the money? If you still produce products to increase inventory and excess capacity, it is useless, and it is also useless to change the economic situation in China. Therefore, from the perspective of enterprise development, its necessary and sufficient conditions are: first, you should be able to produce marketable products in this enterprise; Second, you should be able to sell it at a profitable price. To do this, enterprises must take the road of innovation.

So how to take the road of innovation? I think it is mainly four points:

First, we must distinguish.

Differentiation is the root of the brand, because if the products you produce are not suitable for the needs of consumers, of course not; If you are suitable for this demand, the problem is that you are not the only manufacturer that can produce products that meet the needs of consumers. Why did someone buy yours? Differential is to solve this problem.

Second, there must be a moat.

The moat is a question of sustainability. You produce this differentiated product, but in China, especially in China, it is very easy to be copied. Maybe there will be similar products in two weeks, homogeneous products. So how to have a moat and establish a suitable entry threshold? This is very necessary.

Third, use the Internet.

Use the internet to reduce costs. "internet plus" can't change the industry nature of the Internet. "Internet plus finance" is still a financial attribute, and "Internet plus mobile phone" is still a mobile phone attribute, but the Internet can greatly reduce the operating costs of enterprises, including information search costs, marketing costs, production costs and even financing costs to some extent. Because of the time, I won't expand it. Xiaomi is a classic example of this. It is a classic example to use customers' actual participation in product design and word-of-mouth marketing.

Fourth, internationalization.

"Going out" is the optimal allocation of resources on a global scale.

Four, about China enterprises "going out" need to pay attention to the problem.

First, it is necessary to clarify the purpose of "going out" of enterprises.

It is "going out" that solves the problems of enterprises, rather than saying "going out" blindly, because everyone is "going out". Enterprises must know what spreads they have, what problems they have solved, where they are in the strategic development of enterprises and what an organic part they are.

Second, sharpening the knife does not mistake the woodcutter.

We should fully understand the market, including market demand, investment environment, legal system, human resources, financial market, etc., and minimize information asymmetry. New Hope Group, his "going out" layout in Southeast Asia was relatively successful, but before "going out", he spent three years doing market research, so he sharpened his knife and did not miss the woodcutter.

Third, we must solve the financing problem.

Where does the money for overseas investment come from? Can you get funds from overseas financial markets? Financing from the domestic market, can your overseas assets be mortgaged? So where the money comes from is very important.

Fourth, there must be international talents.

Especially overseas distribution, without international talents, it is difficult to manage it properly. For example, many industries need to interact and contact customers directly, which is difficult to do due to language barriers and cultural background.

Fifth, the cultural integration of enterprise mergers and acquisitions.

If a wholly-owned enterprise is not established, but merged, how to integrate corporate culture is a major issue. Many large enterprises failed in M&A because their cultures could not be integrated.

Finally, the competition among enterprises in China.

Many China enterprises "go out" not in groups, but on their own, and then compete with each other overseas, which is very unfavorable to China enterprises. Therefore, China enterprises can be considered to "go global" together, on the one hand, to increase economies of scale, on the other hand, to coordinate the interests of enterprises.